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SGHT Newsletter February 2024 |
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This month we are celebrating 150 years since the birth of Sir Ernest Shackleton, and how your support is protecting Shackleton’s heritage on South Georgia. And thanks to you, we can also celebrate the recovery of the Antarctic’s only songbird, the South Georgia Pipit, and hear news from the Wandering Albatross survey you are helping to support...and more.
Look out for our special World Whale Day newsletter coming soon with more news on current projects you are helping make happen and a celebration of all things whale-y.
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150th Anniversary of Shackleton’s Birth
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This month we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton was born 15 February 1874 in Kilkea. He was one of ten children born into a farming family in rural Ireland, though the family moved to London ten years later after his father qualified as a doctor.
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Ernest Shackleton joined the Merchant Navy aged 16. Here wearing the uniform of the White Star Line |
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Shackleton’s adventurous side shows from his early enrolment in the Merchant Navy aged just 16. Ten years later he was selected to join Captain Scott on the Discovery Expedition (British Antarctic National Expedition). Shackleton went on to lead three expeditions of his own to the White Continent. It is the latter two, the Endurance Expedition (Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition) and Quest Expedition (Shackleton-Rowett Expedition) that are so strongly linked to South Georgia. |
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The 150th anniversary of Shackleton’s birth is being marked by the unveiling of a plaque commemorating him in Westminster Abbey, London. The plaque will be unveiled by HRH The Princess Royal who is also Patron of SGHT. SGHT will be represented at the event by Chair Nick Prentice. The new plaque is made of stone sourced near to Shackleton’s birthplace and will be sited close to other plaques commemorating great explorers including Captain Cook, who was the first to land on South Georgia.
Your support is helping to conserve Shackleton’s heritage on South Georgia and to use the stories of perseverance and leadership from the Endurance rescue to inspire new generations. The South Georgia Museum, which SGHT manages and operates on behalf of the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI), holds key historical objects relating to all three of Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions. These include a compass used on the Nimrod Expedition (British Antarctic Expedition), splinters of the oars of lifeboat James Caird and the almanac used to navigate her to South Georgia after Endurance sank, the recently donated Reginald James' Polar Medal and a letter signed by Shackleton as he planned the Quest Expedition.
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Left to right: Nimrod compass, splinter from the oar from James Caird, almanac and Reginald James' Polar Medal
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As part of a major Whaling Station Initiative SGHT hopes to conserve the Manager’s Villa at Stromness. This iconic historic building is the place where Shackleton, Worsley and Crean eventually found rescue for the shipwrecked Endurance crew after one of the all-time greatest journeys out from the frozen Weddell Sea to reach and cross South Georgia.
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Saved from the Brink - South Georgia Pipit Recovery |
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The South Georgia Pipit, endemic to South Georgia, was in danger of extinction due to the predation of invasive rats prior to the successful SGHT/FOSGI Habitat Restoration Project. |
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The article below was written for SGHT in February 2024 by Polar Ecologist Andrew Clarke |
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The South Georgia Pipit is the only songbird that breeds in Antarctica, and it is found solely at South Georgia. It nests near the ground in tussac clumps, and prior to the Habitat Restoration Project was susceptible to heavy predation of the eggs and young by Brown Rats. Because of this, historically the breeding distribution was limited to about 20 rat-free offshore islands and some areas of the southern coast that were isolated from rodent incursion by glaciers. The map below shows the mutually exclusive distribution of rats and pipits on South Georgia in the early 1990s. |
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Before rats were eradicated pipits were mainly only seen in rat-free areas |
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Following Phase 2 of the Habitat Restoration project, it was widely noted that pipits had returned to areas from which they had previously been absent, and were successfully breeding (See SGHT Project News Issue 27, 2015). I too had noted pipits in new areas while travelling as a lecturer with Lindblad aboard National Geographic Explorer in 2014 and 2019, and so I thought it would be instructive to try and put more detail on these impressions.
These days many birders record their observations using eBird, the on-line recording system developed by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. This has become especially popular as observations can be recorded in real time on a smartphone and uploaded later. As part of a project to produce a checklist of Antarctic birds, I was kindly provided with access to all records of birds in South Georgia by eBird. These data covered the period from 1995 to 2023 and totalled over 73,000 records. The data had to be cleaned up to remove duplicate records and also to merge records where observations had been recorded from the same location but in different ways. Once this had been done, there were 2000 unique records of pipits and these showed a dramatic increase in the number of locations with pipits following the completion of the Habitat Restoration Project in 2015 (see graph below).
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The graph shows a dramatic increase in reports of pipit sightings once the Habitat Restoration Project was underway |
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Records up to 2011 came from 16 locations, seven of which were not breeding locations. Most pipits winter along ice-free shorelines, and post-breeding dispersal will often carry pipits into rat-infested areas and this may explain these latter records. After 2015 records came from 46 locations, 32 of which previously had no breeding pipits. The population of South Georgia Pipit has clearly expanded since the eradication of rats, and pipits are now a common sight and sound in many places along the north coast where previously they were absent. Since both the number of visitors to South Georgia, and the number of locations visited by tour ships have remained broadly similar since the Habitat Restoration Project, this increase in sightings must reflect a genuine, and highly welcome, change in the population and its distribution. |
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How are South Georgia's Albatrosses Doing? |
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You are helping to make an important island-wide survey of albatross and other bird populations happen on the island at the moment. This major survey by GSGSSI is repeated every ten years and is the main method to know how the globally important bird populations on the island are faring.
The last survey, conducted in 2014/15, discovered that several species were showing a sustained decline in their populations. These included Wandering, Black-browed and Grey-headed Albatrosses which were then declared ‘Priority Populations’.
In the ten years since, a range of conservation efforts have been made to address the threats to the birds. Unintentional bird deaths as a result of human fishing activities are a major one. This incidental mortality generally occurs outside the South Georgia Maritime Zone in more northern latitudes. Supporters of SGHT and FOSGI have also been funding conservation work in these fisheries to encourage fishing practices that reduce bird bycatch. The 2024 survey is vital to show if these conservations efforts are working, if further action is needed, and if so, where this should be targeted.
The survey is working from two vessels. In November the FPV Pharos SG was used to survey Black-browed and Grey-headed albatross colonies using drones. This is a relatively new method for South Georgia, so the effectiveness and practicality of drone surveys of seabird colonies can now be assessed. Using drones to survey has potential benefits such as cost effectiveness, speed, access to difficult-to-reach areas, and can potentially reduce impact on the wildlife-dense areas being surveyed.
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Surveying Wandering Albatross. Image GSGSSI |
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Now the survey team is using charter yacht Vinson of Antarctica to get not only to the tourist landing sites, but also to remote sites all around the island (see map below). The main target is to count Wandering Albatross, but the survey gives a rare chance to access many little-visited spots such as Annenkov Island off the south-west coast, so the survey team is made up of five multi-disciplinary people to make the best advantage of the opportunity.
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Sites all around the island are being visited by the survey group. Map GSGSSI |
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As well as bird counts, the team are assessing plant biodiversity, the incidence of invasive plants and are surveying designated tourist visitor sites to improve information for sustainable tourism. The survey is also proving useful to monitor the incidence of Avian Influenza on South Georgia. One site, at Fortuna Bay, which had been closed earlier in the season has recently been reopened to visitors after a survey showed no mortality above the normal baseline level. |
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If you want to do a bit more and help us achieve more for South Georgia, its wildlife, environment and heritage, please donate right now |
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South Georgia is a Great Teaching Aid in Geography |
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These primary school children were learning about climate and climate zones using South Georgia as an example |
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The children from Eastbury Farm Primary School in Norwood, UK, are learning about climate, biomes and climate change and SGHT was asked if we could help by giving a presentation using South Georgia as a real-life example.
The session was led remotely in January by one of the SGHT staff, with the teacher and classroom assistant helping in the classroom; for instance showing the children where the remote sub-Antarctic island is on the classroom globes. The 90 children in attendance were excited to find out how the usually life-poor tundra biome of the island can support so many hundreds and thousands of animals. They also wanted to hear about how climate change is affecting the island, what it is like to live and work on the island, and what people eat if you can’t grow any crops there. The answer to the last question is lots of frozen, dried and tinned foods!
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Environmentally Friendly eCards |
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Don’t forget we are making it easy and quick for you to send greetings the environmentally friendly way whilst supporting South Georgia with our range of eGreeting Cards. |
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You could send this royal example to a mother or godmother or just one of your favourite people for Mother’s Day or any day.
One donation (for the price of a card and a stamp perhaps?) gives you several cards to send by email - for instance, one donation gets you five Birthday cards to send; or up to 100 Easter or Thank You cards. And we have many more options!
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Follow us on your favourite platform to find out so much more about South Georgia and the activities of SGHT
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